GRIFFON VULTURES

The griffon vulture – a large white headed bird of prey once existed all over the Kvarner region of , but with a decline of sheep rearing and therefore their food supply, the numbers gradually fell.

Nowadays, in the griffon vulture is only found on the northeast side of Cres island and a few spots on Krk island and the mainland.

In the mid 1980’s there were only 24 pairs of birds on the island. Conservationists encouraged local sheep farmers to leave dead animal carcasses in the fields as food for the vultures, thereby helping their numbers to increase and preventing the birds from becoming extinct.

A fully grown adult griffon vulture can weigh 8-10kg and has an impressive wingspan of 2.5m.  The life expectancy can be anything up to 60years.

Eyesight is tremendous – a sheep carcass can be spotted as far away as 6km!

Cres is now the protected home of the griffon vulture and the nesting areas in the rocky cliffs on the east of the island between Beli and Merag are protected by law, it is also forbidden to sail within 50m of these cliffs in case baby griffons are frightened and fall out of their nests!

Griffon vultures nest in December and only produce one egg per pair.  The young bird stays with its parents until August when it flies the nest and uses the next 5 years to “see the world” visiting other colonies of vultures around the Balkans. After this period of freedom, the bird will return to the island and settle down to breed.

The main threats to the vultures are all man-made – power lines, telephone cables and poisons intended for vermin.